Controlling publication of presence information

ABSTRACT

A user interface is configured to identify and display each of the one or more service providers servicing the user&#39;s computing system. The interface also identifies the presence information that is being supplied to the service providers by the user&#39;s computing system for publication. The presence information that is provided to the service providers can include, but is not limited to, the name, alias, location, and network status of the user. A user can make global or discrete customized changes to the presence information that is provided to each of the service providers through the user interface. Modifications made to the presence information can also be made automatically to reflect a new condition or status in the user&#39;s presence on a network that is provided by a service provider.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/401,084,filed Mar. 27, 2003, entitled “CONTROLLING PUBLICATION OF PRESENCEINFORMATION”, and which is incorporated here by reference in itsentirety.

BACKROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of computers and, moreparticularly, to methods and systems for using computers to display andcontrol an entity's presence information that is published over acomputer network.

2. Background and Relevant Art

The computer industry continues to develop new and efficient means forcommunicating through computing devices. It is now commonplace, forexample, to use a personal computing device to communicate over anetwork via e-mail, facsimile, instant message (IM), telephony, videoteleconference (VTC), gaming application and so forth. The networkservice providers have also become more sophisticated, in enablinggreater numbers and types of computing devices to be networked togetherto communicate in any of the above-identified ways.

One particular advance in the computing industry includes the developedability of service providers to identify the computing devices thatconnect to their networks. In addition to identifying a computingdevice, many service providers have also developed the ability to obtainpresence information about a user that is stored on a user's computingdevice and that that can be published or shared over the network withother computing devices.

The term “presence information,” as defined herein, generally includesany information that describes an entity (individual, group,organization, etc.) as well as any information that describes the one ormore computing devices that are associated with the entity by a serviceprovider. Non-limiting examples of presence information include thename, alias, image, and location of an entity. Other types of presenceinformation include the network connection of an entity's computingdevice with a network (e.g., Online/Offline), as well as the entity'sstatus on the network (e.g., signed in/signed out).

Presence information is often used by a service provider to identify anentity accessing a network, as well as to determine the presence andstatus of the entity on the network. Some service providers also publishpresence information to other parties, with or without the expressconsent of the entity. This can be useful to enhance the capabilitiesprovided by a service provider, such as, for example the instantmessaging capabilities provided by a service provider.

In some circumstances, however, a service provider will publish presenceinformation that an entity does not wish to be published. For example, auser may not want their location, name, or network status to bepublished. In yet other circumstances a user may wish for their presenceinformation to be published, but in a different manner than it iscurrently being published by the service provider.

The ability to control what presence information is published cansometimes be controlled by very sophisticated users who know how toaccess the cookies and file caches that are queried by a serviceprovider to obtain the presence information. However, even forsophisticated computer users, controlling the presence information thatis obtained and published by a service provider can represent an arduoustask.

The desire to control publication of presence information also extendsbeyond service providers, to presence aware applications. In particular,there are many applications that are configured to gather and publishpresence information about a user. Many of these presence awareapplications provide presence information to a service provider forpublication.

Accordingly, there is currently a need in the art for a simplified anduser friendly method for enabling a user to view what presenceinformation is gathered by service providers and presence awareapplications and to control what, if any, presence information ispublished.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to methods and systems forenabling a user to control and customize the presence information thatis obtained and published by service providers.

According to one aspect of the invention, a user interface is configuredto identify and display each of the one or more service providersservicing the user's computing system. The interface also identifies thepresence information that is being supplied to the service providers bythe user's computing system for publication. The presence informationthat is provided to the service providers can include, but is notlimited to, the name, alias, location, and network status of the user.The presence information provided to the service providers can alsoinclude presence information that is gathered from presence awareapplications utilized by the user at the computing system.

The user can make changes to the presence information directly throughthe user interface that is provided by the present invention. In oneembodiment, presence information is changed globally, such that allservice providers are provided with the same altered/unaltered presenceinformation. In other embodiments, a user is able to individuallycustomize the presence information that is provided to the variousservice providers. In yet other embodiments, the user interface can beused to provide incorrect presence information to the service providers,as directed by the user.

In certain embodiments, the user interface enables a user to controlexactly which applications can and cannot automatically publishinformation on the users behalf, by enabling a user to over-ride thecontents of presence information that is gathered by presence awareapplications.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. Thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. These and other features of the present inventionwill become more fully apparent from the following description andappended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention asset forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not thereforeto be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will bedescribed and explained with additional specificity and detail throughthe use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of one method for enabling a user tocontrol the publication of presence information by service providers;

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a user interface displayingpresence information that is provided to a plurality of serviceproviders;

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a user interface displayingpresence information and controls for modifying the presence informationthat is provided to various service providers; and

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a computing environment in whichmethods for controlling the publication of presence information can beimplemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is generally related to methods and systems forcontrolling what presence information is published by one or moreservice providers.

As defined herein, the term “presence information,” generally refers tothe information that describes an entity (individual, group,organization, etc.) as well as any information that describes the one ormore computing devices that are associated with the entity by a serviceprovider. Non-limiting examples of presence information include thename, alias, image, and location of an entity. Other types of presenceinformation include the network connection of an entity's computingdevice with a network (e.g., Online/Offline), as well as the entity'sstatus on the network (e.g., signed in/signed out).

The term “service provider,” as generally defined herein, includes aserver or computing system that provides one or more computing systemsaccess to a network that may include any number of other interconnectingcomputing systems. Non-limiting examples of Internet service providers,for example, include MSN, AOL, Earthlink, Juno, and AT&T.

The term “presence aware application,” as generally defined hereinrefers to an application that a user interacts with and that acts as aproxy for the user's activity. Presence aware applications often publishpresence information about the user. For example, a game application maypublish information that the user is playing the game. It will beappreciated, however, that presence aware applications are not limitedto gaming applications, hut extend broadly to any application thatprovides presence information about a user.

According to some aspects of the invention, a user's computing systemprovides presence information to one or more service providers,including presence information that is provided by one or more presenceaware applications. A user can view and modify the presence informationthat is provided to the service providers through a user interface ofthe invention, thereby allowing the user to control exactly whichapplications can and cannot automatically publish information on theirbehalf and enabling the user to over-ride the contents of thatinformation if the user chooses to do so. In certain embodiments, theuser's presence information can also be updated automatically to reflectactual changes in the user's presence.

Although not required, the invention will be described in the generalcontext of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules,being executed by computers in network environments. Generally, programmodules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated datastructures, and program modules represent examples of the program codemeans for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. Theparticular sequence of such executable instructions or associated datastructures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementingthe functions described in such steps.

It will be appreciated that the embodiments of the present invention maycomprise a special purpose or general-purpose computer including variouscomputer hardware and software, as discussed in greater detail below. Inparticular, embodiments within the scope of the present inventioninclude computer-readable media for carrying or havingcomputer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Suchcomputer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, andnot limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other physical storage media, such as optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium which can be used to carry or store desired program codemeans in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structuresand which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purposecomputer. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or acombination of hard wired or wireless) to a computer, the computerproperly views the connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, anysuch connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media. Computer-executable instructions comprise, forexample, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer,special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device, such asa GPU, to perform a certain function or group of functions.

FIG. 4, which is described below in detail, illustrates one example of acomputing environment in which methods of the invention may bepracticed.

Controlling Publication of Presence Information

FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of a method for controlling thepublication of presence information by one or more service providersservicing the computing system of a user. As shown, the method includesan act of identifying service providers that are publishing presenceinformation about the user (act 110), a step for enabling usercustomization of the published presence information (step 120), andcorresponding acts of identifying the presence information that is beingpublished by the service providers (act 130), providing an interface fordisplaying and customizing the presence information (act 140), changingthe customized presence information to reflect a change in the user'spresence (act 150), and providing the customized presence information tothe service providers (act 160). Each of the foregoing acts will now bedescribed in more detail with specific reference to FIGS. 2-3.

Initially, the act of identifying service providers that are publishingpresence information (act 110), generally includes the act of usingcomputing modules within the user's computing system to identify serviceproviders that are provided presence information by the user's computingsystem. In some embodiments, the user's computing system initiates thetransfer of presence information to a service provider, such that act110 is accomplished by identifying all service providers that are sentpresence information by the computing system In other embodiments, theuser's computing system merely allows a service provider to query fileswithin the computing system that contain presence information. In theseembodiments, act 110 is accomplished by identifying all serviceproviders querying the computing system for presence information.

According to one aspect of the invention, computing modules of theuser's computing system also identify the specific presence informationthat is being obtained/published by the service providers (act 130).This may include an act of tracking the presence information that isprovided to the service providers, such as, for example, the presenceinformation that is provided by the presence aware applications. It mayalso include receiving notifications from the service providers thatdetail the types of presence information they are publishing. This mayalso include monitoring the presence information that is actuallypublished by the various service providers.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a user interface isprovided to display a list of the service providers and presenceinformation that are identified while performing acts 110 and 120,described above.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the user interface 200, which canbe used to display the identified service providers and presenceinformation. According to one embodiment, the interface 200 isconfigured to launch whenever the interface 200 is selected, such as,for example, from a menu or a corresponding display icon. In anotherembodiment, the interface 200 is launched whenever the user's name isselected from a contact bar 210.

As shown, the interface 200 displays various presence information,including a name 220 (John Doe), location 230 (at Home), and image 240associated with the user. The user's computing system network status(Online/Offline) is also displayed, indicating whether the user'scomputing system is presently connected to the one or more networks(e.g., World Wide Web, work Intranet, etc.) that are associated with theservice providers. The interface 200 also displays a list of serviceproviders 260 that have been identified as publishing presenceinformation about the user (act 110). In the present embodiment, thelist of service providers 260 is displayed along with additionalpresence information that is specific to each of the correspondingservice providers 260. In particular, the user's network status (signedin/signed out) is displayed with each of the corresponding serviceproviders.

In addition to displaying presence information and a list of serviceproviders, the interface 200 also includes controls that can be selectedto perform a desired task. For instance, a group of (sign in/sign out)controls 280 are provided for selection to enable a user to login orlogout of a network associated with a service provider. An “advanced”control is also provided to take the user to a more advanced interfacethat can be used to customize the user's presence information and toaffect settings for the interface 280. A “go to my profile” control isprovided to enable a user to launch a user profile interface (not shown)that is configured to display detailed contact and presence informationabout a user.

The presence information that is displayed by the interface 200 can beobtained from a specialized data structure or storage location thatcontains all of the presence information that is supplied to the serviceproviders 260 by the user's computing system. The presence informationcan also mirror actual presence data that is contained in variousstorage locations and that are independently queried by the serviceproviders 260.

When the interface mirrors actual presence data contained in variousstorage locations, the methods of the invention may include anadditional act of changing the actual presence data to correspond withany change that is made by the user at the user interface (e.g., signingin or signing out). In certain circumstances, however, a user desiresonly to change the presence information that is published, withoutchanging the user's actual presence with the service provider on thenetwork. In such circumstances, dummy files can be created and suppliedto the service providers for querying, such that the dummy files can bemodified to alter the user's published presence information withoutaffecting the actual presence of the user.

It will be appreciated that a user can customize the presenceinformation in various ways, depending in part on how the serviceproviders obtain the presence information, as described above. Inparticular, if the service providers passively obtain presenceinformation from the user's computing system, then the interface 200 cantransmit the displayed presence information directly to the serviceprovider with one or more corresponding computing modules. However, ifthe service providers actively query the user's computing system forpresence information then dummy files can be established and modified inaccordance with any changes made at the user interface. It will beappreciated that the dummy files may contain presence information thatreflects a user's true presence or a user's fake presence, depending onthe changes made at the interface.

In certain embodiments, for example, a user can change the presenceinformation that displayed by the interface 200, and which is suppliedto the service providers for publication, without changing the user'sactual status. For example, a user can change the computing systemnetwork status 250 from “Online” to “Appear Offline” or to “Offline.”This would cause the service providers 260 to publish the user's statusas Offline, even though they were actually Online. The user could alsochange their network status 270 from “signed in” to “signed out” or“appear signed out.” This would enable the user to appear invisible inthe network the user is signed onto, thereby enabling the user tonavigate throughout the network (e.g., chat groups) without beingnoticed by others in the network.

In certain embodiments, a user can also modify the presence informationthat is provided to the service providers from one or more presenceaware applications. For example, although not shown in the presentembodiment, the presence information that is displayed by the userinterface can also include presence information that is specific to oneor more presence aware applications. In such an embodiment, a user canselectively control what presence information is provided to the serviceproviders for publication by identifying the presence information thatis gathered from one or more presence aware applications and byutilizing the inventive user interface that displays presenceinformation that is to be published. As described herein, the interfacecan include controls for controlling what presence information isactually provided to the one or more service providers for publication.In particular, the user can modify or otherwise designate what presenceinformation, if any, is provided to the one or more service providersfor publication.

Users can modify their presence information with various tools andtechniques. In one embodiment, for example, a user selects the presenceinformation they want to change and a type-in line is automaticallyprovided to the user to enter new or modified presence information. Forinstance, with specific reference to FIG. 2, a user can right-click onthe displayed location 230 and name 220 to launch corresponding type-inlines (not shown) that the user can populate with customized text. Anychanges made to the user's presence information are then recorded to thespecialized data structures and/or dummy files, described above, so thatthe customized presence information makes its way to the serviceproviders for publication.

In certain embodiments, a change to the user's presence information(e.g., name or location) globally affects the presence information thatis provided to all of the service providers 260 that are identified byinterface 200. It will be appreciated, however, that in otherembodiments the presence information can be modified on an individualbasis for each of the various service providers 260. This can be useful,for example, when a user chooses to provide different presenceinformation to different service providers.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of an interface 300 that can be usedto individually customize the presence information that is provided todifferent service providers. The interface 300 in FIG. 3 is similar tothe interface 200 in FIG. 2, but instead of grouping all of the serviceproviders together as shown in FIG. 2, interface 300 separates theservice providers (MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Other NetworkGroup) and the presence information they publish into three separategroupings (310, 320, 330). As shown, the presence information providedto each of the service providers for publication can vary between thevarious service providers. In particular, the user's name provided toMSN Messenger is John, whereas the name provided to Windows Messenger isJohn Doe, and whereas the name provided to the Other Network Group isJD. The location presence information is varied for the differentservice providers (e.g., specified location, at my desk, at home).

In this embodiment, some of the presence information is displayed withpull-down menu control objects (340, 350, 360 and 370). When any of thepull-down menu control objects (340, 350, 360 and 370) are selected,then a list of options is displayed for the user to select from. Forexample, when the control object 340 is selected, then a list ofpossible names and aliases is provided for the user to select from. Whenthe control object 350 is selected, then a list of possible locations isprovided for the user to select from. When the control object 360 isselected, then a list of possible computing system network statuses isdisplayed for the user to select from. Finally, when the control object370 is selected, then the user is presented a list of possible usernetwork statuses to choose from.

In one embodiment, the pull-down menu lists are populated withselections intelligently obtained from databases stored on the user'scomputing system. The lists can also be populated with customizedoptions supplied by a user, such as, for example, in an advanced mode(not shown) of the interface 300. In yet other embodiments, theinterface 300 provides selections that the service providers haveindicated are conforming and appropriate presence information options.

One benefit of enabling a user to modify their presence information, asgenerally described above, is to allow a user to control how they areviewed by different groups of people. For example, a user can set theirpresence information corresponding with their work service provider andnetwork to reflect that they are presently at work (e.g., “at my desk”),while at the same time reflecting over a gaming network to friends andgaming colleagues that the user is really at home or gaming. Otherpresence information can also be changed to provide other impressions(true or false) about the user.

In certain other non-limiting examples of customizing presenceinformation, a user can customize their associated images, names,network status (Signed in/Signed out/Appear Signed out), and computingsystem network status (Online/Offline/ Appear Offline). The customizedpresence information is then provided to the various service providers(act 160) for publication, as described above, thereby enabling controlover the presence information that is published by the various serviceproviders.

With reference to FIG. 1, certain methods of the invention also includethe act of changing the customized presence information to reflect achange in the user's presence (act 150). For example, if a usercustomizes their presence information to reflect that they are Onlineand at work, even though they are really Online and at home, the effectof a network crash with the work server could result in the user'spresence information being automatically updated to reflect that theuser is Offline and at work or Offline and at home. It will beappreciated, however, that the act of automatically updating the user'spresence information is not a necessary act for each method of theinvention. Likewise, it will be appreciated that not all of thecorresponding acts 130, 140, 150 and 160 are required to enable usercustomization of the presence information that is published by theservice providers (step 120). Rather, step 120 may include anycorresponding acts that are suitable for enabling customization of theuser's presence information, as described herein. For example, step 120may include modifying a user's presence information that is provided bypresence aware applications. Accordingly, the interface and methods ofthe invention can operate as a gateway between presence-awareapplications and service providers that actually publish presenceinformation, thereby allowing the user to control exactly whichapplications can and cannot automatically publish information on theirbehalf and over-ride the contents of that information if the userchooses to do so.

In summary, the interfaces and methods of the invention enable a user toview and modify their presence information that is published. Thepresence information displayed by the interfaces of the inventiongenerally corresponds to the user's actual presence on the one or morenetworks provided by the service providers. However, the user is able toedit the displayed presence information without necessarily affectingthe user's actual presence on the network. Accordingly, the customizedpresence information may accurately or inaccurately reflect the user'sactual presence. In certain embodiments, the user's presence informationcan also be modified globally and individually, to accommodate a user'sneeds and desires to publish different information to different people,as described above.

Operating Environment

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may bepracticed in network computing environments with many types of computersystem Econfigurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and thelike. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by local and remote processingdevices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, orby a combination of hard wired or wireless links) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

FIG. 4 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief,general description of a suitable computing environment for implementingcertain elements of the invention. However, it should be emphasized thatthe present invention is not necessarily limited to any particularcomputerized system and may be practiced in a wide range of computerizedsystems.

According to one embodiment, the present invention includes one or morecomputer readable media storing computer-executable instructions, suchas program modules, that can be executed by computing devices.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may bepracticed in network computing environments, in addition to individualcomputing device, with many types of computer system configurations,including personal computers, hand-held devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, components thereof, andthe like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by local and remote processingdevices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, orby a combination of hardwired or wireless links) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

With specific reference to FIG. 4, an exemplary system for implementingcertain elements of the invention includes a general purpose computingsystem in the form of a conventional computer 420, including aprocessing unit 421, a system memory 422 comprising computer readablemedia, and a system bus 423 that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory 422 to the processing unit 421. The systembus 423 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memorybus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any ofa variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read onlymemory (ROM) 424 and random access memory (RAM) 425. A basicinput/output system (BIOS) 426, containing the basic routines that helptransfer information between elements within the computer 420, such asduring start-up, may be stored in ROM 424.

The computer 420 may also include a magnetic hard disk drive 427 forreading from and writing to a magnetic hard disk 439, a magnetic diskdrive 428 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 429,and an optical disk drive 430 for reading from or writing to removableoptical disk 431 such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The magnetichard disk drive 427, magnetic disk drive 428, and optical disk drive 430are connected to the system bus 423 by a hard disk drive interface 432,a magnetic disk drive-interface 433, and an optical drive interface 434,respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable mediaprovide nonvolatile storage of computer-executable instructions, datastructures, program modules and other data for the computer 420. Thesestorage media can also be used to store data structures associatingcorrection coefficients with gamma values, as described above. Althoughthe exemplary environment described herein employs a magnetic hard disk439, a removable magnetic disk 429 and a removable optical disk 431,other types of computer readable media for storing data can be used,including magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatiledisks, Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, and the like.

Program code means comprising one or more program modules may be storedon the hard disk 439, magnetic disk 429, optical disk 431, ROM 424 orRAM 425, including an operating system 435, one or more applicationprograms 436, other program modules 437, and program data 438. A usermay enter commands and information into the computer 420 throughkeyboard 440, pointing device 442, or other input devices (not shown),such as a microphone, joy stick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, orthe like. These and other input devices are often connected to theprocessing unit 421 through a serial port interface 446 coupled tosystem bus 423. Alternatively, the input devices may be connected byother interfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port or a universalserial bus (USB). A monitor 447 or another display device is alsoconnected to system bus 423 via an interface, such as video adapter 448.In this context, the video adapter 448 is considered to include a GPU asdescribed above. In addition to the monitor, personal computerstypically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such asspeakers and printers.

The computer 420 may operate in a networked environment usmg logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computers449 a and 449 b. Remote computers 449 a and 449 b may each be anotherpersonal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device orother common network node, and typically include many or all of theelements described above relative to the computer 420, although onlymemory storage devices 450 a and 450 b and their associated applicationprograms 436 a and 436 b have been illustrated in FIG. 4. The logicalconnections depicted in FIG. 4 include a local area network (LAN) 451and a wide area network (WAN) 452 that are presented here by way ofexample and not limitation. Such networking environments are commonplacein office-wide or enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and theInternet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 420 is connectedto the local network 451 through a network interface or adapter 453.When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 20 may include amodem 454, a wireless link, or other means for establishingcommunications over the wide area network 452, such as the Internet. Themodem 454, which may be internal or external, is connected to the systembus 423 via the serial port interface 446. In a networked environment,program modules depicted relative to the computer 420, or portionsthereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing communications over wide area network 452 may beused.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1. (canceled)
 2. In a computing system that provides presenceinformation to a plurality of service providers that are configured toprovide the computing system access to a plurality of networks, thepresence information corresponding with a user's actual presence on theplurality of networks, a method for enabling the user to control thepresence information that is provided to the plurality of serviceproviders for publication, the method comprising: an act of providing auser interface in a user computing system, the user interface beingconfigured to receive presence information of a user for each of aplurality of service providers and to display the presence informationin one or more display frames of the user interface on a display screen;an act of simultaneously displaying presence information correspondingwith a user's actual presence on each of the plurality of networkswithin one of more of the display frames of the user interface on thedisplay screen; an act of enabling the user to provide user input at theuser interface to edit the displayed presence information withoutaffecting the user's actual presence on the plurality of networks; andan act of providing the displayed presence information to the pluralityof service providers for publication.
 3. A method as recited in claim 1,wherein the presence information includes a user network statusindicating whether the user is logged onto the plurality of networks. 4.A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the presence information furtherincludes a computing system network status indicating whether thecomputing system is currently connected over a connection with theplurality of networks.
 5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein thepresence information includes at least one of a name, location and imageassociated with the user.
 6. A method as recited in claim 1, furtherincluding an act of receiving user input editing the displayed presenceinformation.
 7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein receiving userinput editing the displayed presence information is received withoutcausing a change in the user's actual presence on the plurality ofnetworks.
 8. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the presenceinformation is edited to inaccurately reflect a user's actual presenceon at least one network.
 9. A method as recited in claim 6, furtherincluding an act of receiving user input editing the presenceinformation with at least one of a type-in line or a pull-down menu. 10.A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising an act of, inresponse to receiving user input editing the displayed presenceinformation, changing the displayed presence information globally foreach of the plurality of service providers.
 11. A method as recited inclaim 6, further comprising an act of, in response to receiving userinput editing the displayed presence information, individuallycustomizing the presence information provided to the plurality ofservice providers.
 12. A method as recited in claim 1, further includingan act of displaying the plurality of service providers with thedisplayed presence information.
 13. A method as recited in claim 7,wherein different displayed presence information is provided to each ofthe plurality of service providers.
 14. A method as recited in claim 1,further including an act of updating the displayed presence informationto reflect a change in the user's actual presence on the network.
 15. Amethod as recited in claim 1, wherein the displayed presence informationis actually published by the plurality of service providers.
 16. Acomputer program product comprising: one or more computer-readablestorage media having computer-executable instructions for implementingthe method recited in claim
 2. 17. A computing device having one or morepresence aware applications that provide presence information to aplurality of service providers for publication over one or morenetworks, the computing device being configured to enable a user tocontrol the presence information that is provided to the plurality ofservice providers for publication, the computing device comprising:computer-executable instructions for implementing the method recited inclaim
 2. 18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the one or morepresence aware applications includes a gaming application.